Pinoy netizens in the UAE are surprised that the first leg of President Duterte’s Gulf trip did not include the emirate.
A post on The Filipino Times Facebook page on April 10 was filled with inquiries about why UAE was not part of this April visit to the region.
Duterte is spending his Holy Week in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. After that he will go back home and return to the Gulf, this time in the UAE, on May 23, according to well-placed sources.
“He will not be in the UAE,” said Maritess Mangyaw with a sad emoji. “Come to Dubai, sir,” remarked Clinton Opiasa Madarcos. “Bakit walang Dubai?” asked Clint Robosa. “Please come to UAE,” said Regie Flores. “Safe travel. God bless you always mr pdu30,” said Rochie Gamao.
Others were hopeful, apparently buoyed by Yasay’s March 3 announcement about the UAE visit supposedly scheduled in the third week of May. “His Dubai visit will be next month on his way to Russia as what I’ve heard,” said Gob Samiah.
The president went on a weeklong trip of the Middle East, April 10-16, in line with his administration’s efforts to promote and deepen the country’s economic and political cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar.
The President was in Saudi Arabia on April 10 to 12, then proceeded to Bahrain on April 12 to 14, and Qatar on April 14 to 16.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said there are about 760,000 Filipinos living and working in Saudi Arabia, 60,000 in Bahrain and 250,000 in Qatar.
There are approximately a million Filipinos in the UAE. Duterte won by a huge landslide in the UAE, garnering 51,879 – or 83.5 percent – of the total 62,103 actual votes cast during the 2016 May presidential election. Actual voters’ turnout was 31.74 percent of 195,651 registered voters, according to the Philippine Embassy.
The president’s visit to the UAE has been postponed thrice. It was first reported that he will be visiting around the last week of January. This was however cancelled due to commitments with the ASEAN meetings at the time. This was moved to March then May. (Jojo Dass)
